In Bid To Get Ahead Of Apple, Samsung Also Working On Smart Watch
March 19, 2013
After a couple of weeks that are essentially free from fresh rumors about the so-called iWatch, talk of Apple's fabled smart watch appears to have begun anew thanks to a new report by Bloomberg. According to Bloomberg, another major technology company is readying to release a next-generation wristwatch.
And it's none other than Apple's foremost rival, Samsung, which recently released a new iPhone 5 competitor in the form of the Galaxy S IV. Bloomberg reports:
Samsung Electronics Co. is developing a wristwatch as Asia’s biggest technology company races against Apple Inc. to create a new industry of wearable devices that perform similar tasks as smartphones.The news comes straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Lee Young Hee, the executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business, is himself quoted as saying that the South Korean company's smart watch has been in development for quite some time. "We are working very hard to get ready for it," said Lee. "We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them." As noted by Bloomberg, Samsung and Apple are looking for new product lines in anticipation of the saturation of the smartphone market that they currently dominate. And the watch industry appears to be a good area to invest in, as it is projected to generate more than $60 billion in sales this year. According to one of Bloomberg's sources, Apple plans to introduce the iWatch as soon as this year. Bloomberg had reported last month that Apple already has a team of about 100 people working on the iWatch, signifying that the device is beyond its experimentation phase. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal had also reported that the Cupertino-based company is working on a wristwatch-like product. Moreover, the discovery of a certain patent application last month strongly hinted at the development of the device. Now, it would seem that we would be witnessing a new Apple versus Samsung battle in the smart watch arena. Image via: Apple iWatch Concept by Esben Oxholm